Speaking for myself, I see no logical reason why Boyce’s wife and children deserve oil money any more than they deserve to keep living in their old house. If they were victimized, it was by Boyce.

Still, something smells funny to anyone who recalls how tax foreclosure was supposed to work.

Back in 1999, legislation passed in Lansing to “streamline” handling of property with delinquent taxes. For the first time, counties received power to foreclose directly on private property, replacing a previous system involving tax liens sold to investors.

Even within Jackson County government, the expansion of power seemed potentially troubling.

“I didn’t run for this job so I can take people’s houses away from them,” said former Jackson County Treasurer Janet Rochefort in 2000.

Supporters of the change said the intent was to speed up a slow response to tax deadbeats, so properties can go back on tax rolls as quickly as possible.

The Boyce property would have returned to tax rolls two years ago, except county commissioners prevented it. Instead of allowing the property to be sold at tax sale in the normal flow of events, commissioners voted to take ownership by paying the $18,500 tax bill.

Treasurer Karen Coffman then questioned the legality of county ownership because no public use, such as a park, is planned.

Regardless, the county listed the property for sale at $300,000, a profit margin of 1,521 percent. A buyer offered the asking price, but the county backed out in July because an oil strike by then appeared likely.

Now the county intends to let oil revenues roll in so it can properly assess the windfall.

So Jackson County has twice deliberately kept the formerly private property off the tax rolls so government can extract maximum wealth from it.

That may not be an injustice to any one person in particular, but the funny smell lingers.